“Wow, this mission is already a disaster, and it has not even begun yet, ugh.” Shelly turned around and made an exhausted nod. “Worst of all, that carriage is probably already out of town, and we have no idea where! And even if, we would not be able to reach it!”

“Umm, I might be able to help,” Raven suggested.

Shelly turned back with a questioning look.

“If Master gives me his power, I might be able to catch up.”

“But we still have no idea where that carriage is and also ...” Shelly did not finish her sentence, but I was pretty sure, she was thinking about the fact that Raven wasn’t supposed to come with us, anyway.

“Why were you late anyway?” I asked her. “All of that would not have happened!”

“I was at the police station picking up your ... book,” she said, pointing at her backpack.

[Please tell her that I am not a book.]

“Um, I’m supposed to tell you that it is not a book.”

“Obviously, but those things are rare, I can’t just announce we have this thing in broad ... Wait why are you supposed to say that?”

“Oh, the Grimoire told me to tell you,” I replied totally ignoring her concerns. No-one would be eavesdropping on us here, I thought.

“You can talk to it? It can talk to you? What exactly is that thing really?”

[I am a Grimoire that contains all knowledge of this world.]

“It says it contains ... oh my god.” I clasped my hands together as I suddenly realized something.

You don’t happen to know where that carriage is, do you?

[It is precisely at that location.]

An image of the carriage chasing over a field flashed through my mind.

“Oh my god, that is so OP ...” I muttered to myself.

“It’s what now?”

“Nevermind. Shelly, give me that Grimoire.”

Hesitantly she took her backpack off her back, opened it, and handed me the Grimoire from the inside.

Can you draw me a map that shows our position relative to the position of the carriage?

As soon as I opened a random page its contents were replaced with an accurate map showing the city and its outskirts, as well as our position and that of the carriage signified through differently colored dots.

Satisfied with the result I turned the Grimoire around to show it to Raven and Shelly.

“Woah, that thing seriously is amazing!” Shelly exclaimed.

“Well then, should we get going?” Raven asked impatiently.

“Okay, but how do you plan to get us both to the carriage?” she asked him.

“You climb onto my back, and I’ll hold the master in my arms,” he said as he lifted me off the ground planting a long kiss onto my lips. I felt my cheeks heat up due to this unexpected contact.

He moaned softly as our lips parted and then called out to Shelly: “Get up and hold on tight, the headwind might blow you off my back.”

I felt him adjusting to the additional weight, as Shelly climbed onto Raven’s back, and after he said something along the lines of “Here we go!” he took off and we started screaming – again.

And it wasn’t only us, it was also the dozens of people walking on the street, that Raven miraculously managed to avoid hitting at hundreds of miles per hour.

“Raven!” Shelly attempted to communicate with him. “Get off the streets!”

“How should I do that?” he retorted.

“Doesn’t lending Nathan’s powers give you the ability to fly or something?!”

“Not with that much baggage. But I can jump!”

“Whaaa-?!” I tried to say.

And lord, that was a jump.

He leapt into the air, releasing a shockwave from the force of his jump, and soaring through the sky, somehow managing to maneuver himself onto a nearby rooftop.

“Woah!” I let out an uncontrolled shout, as he lowered his body to put a damper on his landing. My body, still in his arms, nearly scratched the surface. Barely having made a secure landing he already dashed off, leaving behind a dust-cloud on the roof that probably no-one had set foot on for the last years. The roof tiles rattled under his footsteps and were probably audible inside the building itself.

A truly taxing day for the citizens of Ataraxia.

He leapt over each rooftop like a flying ninja and after a short while we reached the city walls, where guards waved through unknowing citizens, until one of them spotted us and shouted: “In- um, extruders!” Upon which every single one of them turned their heads up in the air.

I spotted several guards readying their canons and magic wands or other objects when we landed on top of the city wall and tried to warn Raven, but Shelly was faster than me.

“Stop!” she shouted, very unconvincingly trying to assure her subordinates everything was alright. But the result was ...

“Isn’t that the boss?!”

“Oh my god, is she being kidnapped!?”

I did not even bother sighing anymore, as Raven propelled himself into the air again.

“FIRE!” I heard someone shout behind me and prayed that we did not just cause a war by accident. When I took a peek behind Raven’s back, I saw ashen trails left behind by projectiles aimed at us.

“Dodge!”

As soon as I said that, Raven did a barrel roll to the side, using his wings, evading the first incoming attack, and another three, while slowly losing altitude. He finished his last rotation shortly before coming down onto the ground. The last few projectiles hit the area around us and after taking a couple of strides, the guards on the city wall slowly disappeared in the distance and we from their view.

“I’ll have to explain all of that to my superiors!” Shelly snapped.

“Show me the map again, Master,” Raven said, completely ignoring Shelly’s looming rage.

I realized that my arms clung to the Grimoire the entire time. I somehow managed to open the map against the wind and hold it so Raven was able to look at it. He sped in between some corn fields not noticing the distressed farmers fearing for their crops.

“Okay, we should make it soon, just another couple of minutes, I guess,” Raven announced.

After leaving the corn fields behind, I was able to spot the carriage in the distance.

“There they are!” I exclaimed, pointing towards them, and closing my Grimoire shut.

Even from that distance I realized they were moving at an amazing speed, but we slowly but surely managed to catch up. I could see Raynard and the princess inside the vehicle desperately trying to not fall off, but nearly losing their grip when they saw Raven approaching.

Only a couple of steps away, Raven took one final leap, and rolled inside the carriage as jumping into a driving vehicle caused him to lose his balance.

“A SUCCUBUS?!” I heard Raynard scream.

I collided with the back of the old cart driver, prompting her to turn around.

“OH, YOU’RE BACK ALREADY?!”

“Ugh, shut up,” I told that lady.

“I HEARD THAT!”

“Of course she did ... Hi,” I greeted Princess Abc and Raynard who were both looking at me in complete bewilderment.

Raynard tried to say something but just ended up pointing between me, Shelly, who was just getting up, and Raven who laid on my lap hugging my stomach. My Grimoire landed somewhere in the corner.

“Did I do it?” Raven suddenly said and gave me an excited look like a puppy. If only he had a tail, he could wag.

“Yes ... yes you did it,” I said and reluctantly petted his red hair.

“Ugh that report is going to be a lot,” Shelly muttered while rubbing her face. For some reason she managed to stay upright, while the others were still clinging to the bars holding this thing together. Scattered across the wooden floor also were the remains of the wooden crate Raven was supposedly hiding in. What a miracle I hadn’t gotten a splinter.

“So, we are now all set?” the princess asked no-one specifically.

“Actually, we’re more than set, considering Raven shouldn’t even be here,” Shelly said.

“But we can’t just throw him out, can we?” I tried to put in a good word for the weird Incubus that got a little too attached to me.

“You can’t,” he agreed trying to nod convincingly.

“As long as you don’t interfere with anything, it’ll be fine, I guess. Still that report is going to be a nightmare.”

“I’m going to protect you,” Raven said lowering his voice seductively.

“Yeah, you do you.”

“So, how long is that journey going to take?” the princess asked.

“Around two days. Crema is located south-east of our city, halfway to the kingdom’s border. So lay back, it’s going to be a long two days.”

Shelly took the words right out of my mouth.